Friday, August 3, 2007

Dereks' amazing mind

You can accuse me of being biased, and, being his dad, I'll cheerfully admit it. Derek has put another post on his blog (http://www.penmachine.com/2007/08/my-love-is-vengeance), and, if you read it, you'll likely agree that the theme of this post is totally different from that of his other recent posts. I'm constantly amazed at the depth and breadth of Dereks' interests and knowledge. I can't even pretend to know what Derek is talking about in that post (my interests are quite different from Dereks' and that regard), but what astounds me is that he seems to be able to divorce himself mentally from his current medical problems and concerns.

Derek and I went down to the hospital to talk to the surgeon (Dr. Phang) who removed Dereks' cancerous rectum. Derek wanted to find out whether his current symptoms need some attention. Dr. Phang told us that what Derek is experiencing is quite normal. He said that the recovery will be lengthy, and painful episodes will still occur with some regularity. Derek will take some Tylenol 3 when necessary to combat those. On Tuesday, he will meet with the pain management experts at the BC Cancer Institute for further information in this regard.

My relief, and I'm sure Dereks', too, is palpable. While having to go through this is no fun, it's obvious to me that this information is contributing to Dereks' renewed interest in blogging about other subjects.